Re: Aphorisms and Copyright

On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> On 8/19/98, Robert Cumbow <cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> wrote:
> >
> > Why not? A cartoonist draws an illustration for a newspaper, and
> > it's protected by copyright. An aphorist writes a clever saying
> > for a newspaper and it's up for grabs? Where's the difference?
>
> Seems to me there is a sizable difference between a cartoon and a
> slogan. The cartoon has far more ways of being expresssed than does
> the short phrase.

Seems to me there's another problem with the aphorism: independent creation.

For example, there are not that many ways to express the idea that it is difficult for someone who is older to change his/her ways ("can't teach an old dog new tricks"). Some of the "Brilliant" aphorisms seemed fairly common to me, at least as I remember the start of this thread.

Harold Federow
<hfederow[_at_]u.washington.edu> Received on Sat Aug 22 1998 - 18:55:14 GMT